


If Lavender Won't Sing You to Sleep

by thegoodthebadandthenerdy



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Druid Julia, Gen, Healing, Julia Burnsides Lives, Light Angst, Reapers, aka they both confront the shit theyve been through, but as best friends!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-10-15 03:23:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17521064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegoodthebadandthenerdy/pseuds/thegoodthebadandthenerdy
Summary: chlo • ro • sis - nounthe yellowing or whitening of normally green plant tissue because of a decreased amount of chlorophyll. possible causes include poor drainage, damaged or compacted roots, and nutrient deficiencies.





	If Lavender Won't Sing You to Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> i'm back! it's been almost a month since i've written Anything and then i wrote this in literally four days so sage to say my rut was successfully kicked to the curb
> 
> this fic is the product of another week long fic swap challenge with my amazing friend maddie (cha-boy-taako on tumblr and monogramsalarm here on ao3!) we each started out with the one requirement of it having to be a julia fic and then just let our ideas snowball from there (and oh did they snowball gkdjf)

_"You must be Lup," she said as she brushed her hands off on the thick, sturdy fabric of her pants. Flame-retardant fabric, to be exact._

_"And you must be the_ most amazing woman ever, Lup, no seriously, she's the best," _Lup added with a smouldering grin, her lips curled upward in poorly-cloaked mirth. There was no bite to her words, which Julia knew well._

_She simply replied with a smile of her own, one to rival even the intensity of the flames the other could conjure. It was a terrifying sight to behold._

_There was a moment of bated breath, a high-noon staredown molded in teasing and borne from humor._

_"Bring it in," Lup said finally, but Julia was already pulling her in with her broad shoulders and dusty hands before she could even finish her sentence._

_Barely audible just to the right of them, Magnus could be heard murmuring his thanks to more than one deity._

-

Julia caressed the leaf, coaxing it up, up, upward. Still it drooped pitifully, the waning green turning to a molten yellow around the edges of the plant. 

She sighed, brushing a thick coil of black hair from her eyes, but only succeeding in getting it stuck in the sweat that had converged on her brow.

Over her shoulder the screen door smacked open, wire hitting the brick like a swatter on a business of fruit flies. She didn't bother to turn around, instead poking her fingers in the dirt around the plant unhappily.

"I don't think that saying was about mud pies," Lup said as she came up behind Julia, the tell-tale snapping of the fasten on her cloak coming undone, next the rumple of her long sleeves shifting up her skin. In the back of her mind, Julia realized she must have come straight from work.

She finally looked up, her fingers idly rubbing together over mineral-filled dirt. "Hm?"

"The thumb in the pie thing," she said with a crooked smile, sunlight smudging her long blonde hair into the sky. "Not for dirt."

Julia sighed, beckoning her forward with the quick tip of her head. "Just come tell me what you think of this one."

Lup knelt down beside her, getting the knees of her stretchy, black slacks dirtied with the freshly turned soil Julia had already parsed through after having to pull up one of the plants.

"Chlorosis?" Lup asked, fingers slipping over the leaf. She didn't need to say it, they both knew what it was.

"But _why_?"

She pursed her lips as she eyed the little thing, cocking her head to the left slightly, ears twitching in thought.

-

_Though it was the middle of the night, Julia could hear knocking. It wasn't insistent, didn't sound particularly hurried in any way, but Julia could feel a particular insistence in her blood._

_She slipped her arm from around Magnus's waist and eased her way out of bed, stepping over one snoozing dog to reach her slippers, and another to grab her robe._

_Her pajama pants swished across her shins as she headed for the front door, cracking her fingers with the flex of her palm. Nails ticked dully on the floor behind her - Jonesy, she thought - and she softened at her backup._

_Leaning down, she peeked through the peephole, eye taking a moment to divide away the excess and take in the full shape of the tear-stained face in front of her._

_She set to undoing the door, Jonesy pacing behind her as she unlatched the deadbolt and tugged it open._

_"Lup?" she asked quietly, afraid to spook the woman._

_Lup inhaled harshly, her stuffy nose not letting anything in. Her face was crumpled again the instant she saw Julia, cheeks pushing into eyes leaking thick, unforgiving tears._

_"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she heaved. "Is Mags here? I didn't mean to wake you up, I just need-" she broke off, body convulsing with another cry._

_"Come on," Julia murmured, reaching for her shoulder with nimble fingers that curved into the thin fabric of her t-shirt and sucked the cold from her warmly-toned skin. "Come on, Lup."_

_She stumbled in the door, barely getting inside before she had her hand out to Jonesy, rubbing at his mottled brown and white face while trying to pull her tears back into their ducts._

_Julia knew, realistically, that she should wake Magnus up, but something inside her telling her that it would take too long to wake him, and this was a now, now, now kind of situation._

_"Come on," she repeated, somehow even softer, and led Lup and an anxious Jonesy out the back door._

_The screen door, old and creaky, not made of fine mesh but instead of sturdy, resilient wire smacked shut behind them. It was only a few seconds before the other three dogs lined up behind it to peer out, waiting with shaggy tails and moonbeam eyes._

_But the trio had already started heading toward the freshly tilled backyard of the freshmen house, the others would just have to wait._

_Lup said nothing, but watched with confused eyes as Julia knelt down smack in the dirt, not batting an eye at the way it clung to her pale robe and the slick material of her pants._

_"I want to show you something," she explained over her shoulder, motioning for Lup like she did with the still skittery dogs - easy, so as not to startle, but still firm enough to get a response._

_Lup bent down beside her, not so quick to get her clothes dirty, but her eyes, at least, were clearing._

_Julia directed Jonesy over, showing him an untouched region of the ground. It was void of grass, but the earth was rich and smelled high of water and life. Dutifully, he plunged his paw into the ground and pulled back a few easy layers, his tail waggling excitedly as he did._

_"Got to the shed and get the one we were looking at this afternoon, okay?" she asked him gently, his keen eyes on her as he took in her instructions. It was only a moment before he darted off, and not more than a few more before he returned, daintily carrying the lip of a cup between his teeth, a small plant held inside._

_She took it from him with sure hands, thanking him in kind as she did. He seemed to nod his understanding before trailing around her to rest his face on Lup's thigh and look expectantly at her for petting. Idly, she began to trace her fingers from the bridge of his nose to the top of his head, which seemed to be enough for him, as he closed his eyes and simply rested._

_"Do you see the yellow?" Julia asked Lup, pointing out the edge of the leaves._

_Lup nodded. "It's sick - dying."_

_Julia's lips curled into a small smile. "Far from it, actually. This is from strangled roots - it can't breathe, but it still has so much to give," she explained as she tipped it out of the cup until the root ball sat in her palm. "It just needs help to find its place so it can breathe again," she added, pressing it into the new hole and brushing dirt over it to fill in the gaps. "Now it'll need water, and sun, the bare necessities, but it'll continue to grow, it'll thrive."_

_"And all it needed was someone to notice," Lup murmured, her voice smaller than Julia had ever heard it. Granted, it had only been six months since Magnus had introduced them, but when one knew Lup Taaco for any amount of time, subtly wasn't exactly her go to._

_"Mhm," Julia agreed as she brushed her hands together, shucking the dirt from them. "And I'm always happy to help."_

_Lup cocked her head to the side almost imperceptibly, her ears twitching slightly, shifting the collarbone length blonde hair that was shoved behind them. Her face was dried with salt and time, but her eyes were focused and clear._

_"Nightmares," she said softly. "Guilt, and nightmares. It makes sleeping so hard, Julia."_

_Julia nodded as she spoke, words laced in finality and hemmed in simplicity. "Okay. We'll figure it out."_

_Lup looked up from where her eyes had dropped to her hands, a pierced eyebrow quirked._

_As if to strike the final nail through her point, Julia said, "I promise you'll breathe again," as she stood up and offered her hand in one swift motion._

-

"Drainage?" Lup asked, thumping down hard on her tailbone. She tossed her cape out beside her with one hand, and undid the buttons on her vest with the other.

"Already checked."

"Could be root damage."

Julia nodded, and not wanting to shoot down another idea, she pressed her palm to the ground and closed her eyes. It all hummed beneath her, but there was a steady twang of life that felt different from the rest. She ran her hand left and right, fingers chasing roots like raindrops on a windowpane.

"And?"

"I can't feel any discrepancies," she admitted, pulling her hand back to dust it off. 

"Then it's got to be a deficiency," she said on a shuddering exhale that gained Julia's full attention. 

She turned to look at Lup fully, took in the smudged wine red lipstick on her mouth, the sweaty-limpness of her waist-long braid, the blood and bits spattered on her button-up. "Needs some supplemental enrichment," Julia mumbled, as she finally caught the unlatching of her irises from the moment.

Weakly, she forced out, "It's been a really long day, Jewel."

-

_"Lup!" Julia cried excitedly, summer sun beating down on them in waves that seemed visible. The dogs, all sat in a semi-circle around her feet, immediately craned their heads around to peer at their visitor._

_Julia tried to rein them in, but the moment Jonesy set eyes on her he took off, and where Jonesy went, so followed Magdalena, Hortense, and Perley._

_Jonesy got to her first, shoving his sleek face into her hand for her to rub. She cooed accordingly, her face shattering into a diamond grin at his hyper insistence, his pink tongue slipping across her lacquered nails._

_Hortense, not to be outshone, shook the chocolate hair from his eyes as best he could and pressed his forehead against the side of her knee, which got the attention of her other hand._

_Perley bounced on his feet around her, mouth opening and closing with creaks of sound like a tuning orchestra. Beside him, Magdalena looked on with an air of feigned distaste, though everyone knew better, especially Lup who, once having broken away from the other two, cupped either side of Magdalena's face and pressed a sound kiss to her forehead._

_"All right, folks," Julia called. "Let the lady through!"_

_Magdalena backed away first, trudging her way back over to Julia's side, followed quickly thereafter by a fumbling Hortense. Perley was still bouncing in - albeit much quieter - circles, which was the most that could be asked of an excited Perley Burnsides. Still it was all enough for Lup, and Jonesy happily at her side, to actually be able to advance the ten feet she needed to meet Julia._

_"Hey," she breathed as they met in their customary hug, strong arms wrapped around strong shoulders, and noses tucked into airy smelling cloth._

_Julia pulled back first, her thick fingers meeting the skin of Lup's face to turn it this way and that. "Almost forgot what you looked like," she joked, though she made note of the red rimmed eyes in front of her still._

_"Sorry, it's been, it's been busy." Her eyes tracked the skyline over Julia's shoulder, never making contact with the matching brown set that was inspecting her over tenfold._

_"It's been long enough that your hair's gained another six inches, Lup," she said as she caught sight of the braid, ever longer, swishing in the newly minted breeze._

_"There's been a lot of paperwork."_

_"Paperwork?"_

_"Julia, we need to, we have to talk."_

_"Is everything okay? Are you okay? Is Barry?"_

_"Uh, kinda. Mostly. I- shit, I wanted to do this better, Jewel, I'm so sorry."_

_"Lup, you're scaring me."_

_"These forms, Barry and I's, aren't sustainable, and I think you already know that. We knew what we were doing when we did it, we understood the consequences, but it was what needed to be done. And now that things are settled, it's time for us to pay the price."_

_"Oh, gods," Julia choked out, her throat closing up. "Oh, gods, Lup, no."_

_"It's gonna be okay, hold on, it's gonna be okay."_

_"I thought everything was okay, I thought you were okay-"_

_"Hey, hey, listen to me," Lup insisted wrapping her fingers around the skin of Julia's upper arms, it colored in its summer glow like the mahogany trees she cared for at the edge of the property line. "I am going to be okay, and so is Barry. We made a deal with the Raven Queen."_

_"A deal-?"_

_"I know that sounds scary. To be honest, I'm terrified, but Bar and I'll have each other, and we'll have Krav, too. It's just like a nine to five, necromancy and rifts in the space time continuum and all, okay? I'm still going to be here, I can stay- did you hear me, we can stay on this plane. You're not getting rid of me that easy."_

-

"What happened?" Julia asked, dropping decorative umbrellas in the glasses of iced tea and lemonade that Lup had poured while the latter stuck the drinks back in the fridge.

"Our call today, it was." She closed her eyes, lashes pressing the buttons of her standout freckles. "They were younger than the usual, and I swear, I swear one looked just like Taako at that age. I couldn't breathe."

"Lup," Julia said softly, resting her hand over that of her friend. 

"I called him on the way over here, told him I loved him. He called me a dork, we talked about his day, and everything was okay as long as I didn't close my eyes for too long."

Julia frowned, lips rolling over skin, shielding words like the dark side of a wave. She searched Lup's face for - something, but she didn't know what. Just knew that she was missing something. And then it clicked.

"Nightmares?" she asked knowingly, and she waited far more patiently than her DNA was wired to, not because she needed to hear it, but because Lup needed to say it.

"One hundred _years,_ Julia. I've lived so many lives, unlived them, too. And I thought I'd seen all their unfair shares of Death, but it never ends."

Julia fumbled forward, grabbing her around the shoulders and bringing her in for a tight hug that she put everything she had into. Tears dripped down her long nose and into the muddled mess of hair on the crown of Lup's head, pawing at roots shaded in their natural color.

"It's not fair, none of it's fair! I've lived too many lives, Julia, I'm the broken law in the flesh, so why am I the one that gets to uphold them? Why- why me?" she heaved through gritted teeth, chin dug into the bare skin of Julia's shoulder and unknowing tears staining the white muscle shirt just there. "I don't understand, I don't understand why it's me." 

With her final exhaled word, Lup seemed to lose everything inside her, her limbs going weightless against Julia. She tightened her grip around her, keeping her upright, and started rubbing methodical circles through the fabric of her vest and shirt. She didn't even mind the blood now surely staining her.

"Not everything has an easy answer, not everything has an answer, period," she started, keeping her words slow, trying to figure them out and line them up as she went. "And sometimes, Fate makes choices we can't understand."

All these years later, but she could still remember Raven's Roost in perfect clarity. She could still smell the wood polish that floated through store, could remember the lavender she grew in the boxes outside the front door - the first thing Magnus had ever built for her - could see every face that passed through.

And she could remember it falling. Could remember old faces contorted in new rage, in death, could remember lavender mixed with the iron of blood and of war, even if they had once seemed to be the same thing. She remembered rubble and dust and praying for swiftness, if anything.

But she could also remember a hand in hers, pulling her from the shambles. The same hand that led her to a cart that led her away - still a swift departure. It was the same hand that built her flower boxes, that she had built her home side by side with, had slipped a new ring onto the day it was completed, that she held when everything became too much.

Death never ceased, but neither did Love. Oh, neither did Love.

"So we take it day by day, and we do our best to give our best and Hope it's enough. There's no guarentee in anything, and there isn't anything in doing nothing, but there is always more to be said in doing or saying something."

-

_For once, they were at Lup's place. It was nothing like the cottage, but somehow, Julia found a sense of pleasantness in that. It was good to be outside of brick and shutters, if only to appreciate them that much more when you got back._

_Still, Julia loved Lup's. It was a slick looking apartment that once you stepped inside, you felt as if you were transported halfway across the world._

_The walls were struck with sunsets of colors, and the floors were strewn with wall to wall rugs that protected bare feet from the thick, cold hardwood beneath them. Something always smelled good in the general direction of the kitchen, and the furniture was always strewn with pieces of fabric from a disgruntled wardrobe._

_Really, the only thing missing was a puppy. Which Julia had already told her. On multiple occasions._

_"Okay!" Lup called from behind her bedroom door. "I'll count it down, and then we'll do the reveal, yeah?"_

_"On one or after one?"_

_"After!"_

_"Let's go then, slow poke!"_

_There was a stretched countdown, one that had Julia hiding behind her hands in giddy anticipation, and then there was Lup._

_She flung her arms out wide, the shoulders of the white button up scrunching inward as she did. The sleeves were fastened in place around her wrists, an odd sight considering Lup was a known backer of having one's forearms exposed every waking second of the day._

_Tugged over the shirt was a vest in writhing black, each button placed in the according buttonhole, not one untucked. Internally, Julia made a bet with herself on how long that would last._

_"The pants are surprisingly comfy," she said, taking her hands out of, and the stuffing them back in, the pockets of the pants. They were the same shade as the vest, black so deep and so true Julia could almost feel it looking back at her, and styled like any regular pair of slacks._

_"Can you even run in those?"_

_"Oh, hell yeah I can," she replied, dropping into a deep lunge. "These boots were made for walking and these pants were made for kicking necromancer ass, Jewel!"_

_A laugh burst from Julia's mouth, still stained from the fresh cherries she'd been eating before she came, and her hands grasped at her sides to hold herself together while it shook her body._

_"Oh, and the best part," Lup said, darting back to her room, before returning in a flash of scarlet in nether._

_Fastened at her throat by a gold clasp - a raven, she realized - was a just-shy-of-floor-length cape._

_"It's been awhile since I've worn anything like this," she said with a half smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, thumbing at the pain red inside of the cape._

_"Hey," Julia called, snatching at her attention and only coming back with wispy tufts of it. "You're gonna do great."_

_Pulling the cape around her, cocooning herself in black until all Julia could see of her was her quietly nervous face, Lup replied, "Hope so. Can't afford to lose this one like that managerial position I had at that one place I'm legally not allowed to say the name of anymore."_

"What?" _Julia sputtered out on the flipping tails of an incredulous laugh._

_"Story for another day!" she cried out as if to right herself before sweeping out of the room with the flick of her night sky._

-

Julia's hands were covered in paint. A pale, perfect yellow that only cracked along the fault lines of her stretched palms. An angled brush sat shoved in the pocket of her heavy duty apron, and beside her, Magnus had buttery handprints on either side of his scarred face from where she'd pulled him into a laughing kiss. It would dry and flake from his beard later, but for now he was as untouchable as the wet walls around them, and she could fit herself inside the exact outline if she pleased.

"Are you two hormonal teens making out in there or am I good to enter!" Lup called from just outside the door. The ticking claws of Jonesy could be heard following her, and Julia hoped the other three weren't too far behind.

Bemused, Julia turned to eye the door completely, her lips holding back a smile as she called back, just a little softer than her best friend, "It's our house, we can do whatever we want!"

A second later Lup leaned her head around the doorframe, bodyless face grinning as she said, "Yeah, but it's supes gross," 

"Just get in here. And watch out for the paint this time?"

Lup pulled a face as she crossed the threshold, tucking her cloak over her arm with a left hand that bore a simple bronze band. "Ugh, don't get me started, Krav almost got it passed as a uniform amendment - because nothing says death law Robocop better than the sun painted on your cloak."

"You should've watched where you were going," Julia replied as she wrapped her arm around Lup's shoulders. "How are you?"

"I'm good." She said it with a weighty simplicity, one that made Julia give her a bittersweet, but so incredibly proud smile. 

"Good."

"And how," Lup continued as she dropped down to one knee and placed her hands on either side of Julia's stomach. "Is my niece?" 

"She's taking after her uncle Taako," Julia said through pursed lips. "Kid's gonna come out with a plus ten in acrobatics alone."

Huffing, Lup pressed her nose close to the slight baby bump. "You're just a kid so you don't know any better, but your uncle Koko is a dummy, and I'm clearly the superior twin - just remember that, okay?"

Julia laughed, pressing her hand into the small of her back while Lup stretched herself back into an upright position, a wide grin tearing at her lips. Magnus, seeing the slight movement, shuffled forward quietly, pressing his chest to her back for her to lean against. She turned her head slightly over her shoulder, giving him a small, oozing-love smile.

Lup watched on fondly, her fingers twirling the band on her own finger absently. Breaking silently from their spell, Julia, now leaned fully against her husband, turned back to Lup as if nothing had happened and asked, "So what's up with the hairdo?"

Lup's free hand patted absently at the crown of her head where her roots were bleeding out like a splintered sheet of ice, the color draining down past her shoulderblades in the floorlength braid she sported. "Bet with Barry. If I can go au naturael here, he'll do facial hair for the wedding."

Julia's face scrunched with a surprised laugh. "I can't imagine Barry with a beard."

"Mustache," Magnus corrected with a roguish grin. "I remember that cycle."

Lup returned his look tenfold. "It's a good bet, right?"

"Totally."

"How _are_ things going with the wedding?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Lup huffed good-naturedly, tipping her cloak off her arm and holding something out to them in one quick motion.

Julia took it between her hands curiously, face screwed up in confusion as her thumb and forefinger stumbled over the tag wrapped around it in pale yellow ribbon.

_Jewel,_

_make no mistake_  
_this bunny's for the baby_  
_but would you do me the favor_  
_of being my honorable lady?_

Lup watched her lip-read along with the tag, her fingers clutching tightly at the soft, handstitched bunny she'd found in a little corner shop while she was waiting around for Barry and Krav before a call. 

She seemed to reread it once, twice, three times, before she looked back up at Lup with scrunched up eyes already overflowing with emotion.

"You want me to be your maid of honor?" she choked out, eyelashes flashing through streaming tears with every swift movement of her eyelids.

Lup tilted her face back, chin pointing to the ceiling, eyes blinking rapidly. "You know I do," she croaked, her voice getting caught somewhere between her throat and her tongue.

"And you know I want to, but I swear to Istus, if you put me in an ugly outfit I'm gonna ruin all your pictures."

Unable to talk herself out of the hot tears treading at her lids, Lup finally locked eyes with her, letting their faces mirror. "You've got a deal."

-

_"Honey, can you hand me my stone?" Julia asked distractedly, looking up from the papers she had strewn about the floor, one pencil between her teeth, and one shoved in her hair to keep it from falling in front of her large, wiry reading glasses._

_Floor plans for the baby's room, furniture blueprints, and numerous lists were all layered over one another, keeping her from being able to easily get up, but the stone kept pinging and the repetitive sound was starting to get to her._

_Magnus, who was piecing together a miniature model of one of her crib ideas looked up, scratching at his beard with hands covered in fine granules of sawdust. "Hm?"_

_"My stone," she repeated, tearing her eyes away from the mobile sketch in front of her._

_He palmed it off the edge of the table and passed it off to her, easing a kiss to the crown of her head before he went back to his work._

_"Thank you," she called before picking up the newly incoming call._

_"Hello?"_

_"Took you long enough," Lup whined in reponse, though she would never admit to it being anything short of stretched out syllables._

_"What do you want?" Julia replied in a mocking, stretched tone, her smile no doubt seeping into her words._

_"Well I wanted," she started, cutting herself off as she moved around, muffled sounds coming through before new, clearer words, "I wanted to tell you this in person, but we just got called in for a hell of a doozy of a job, and it's gonna be a few days before we get home."_

_Immediately, Julia frowned. "Is everything okay?"_

_"Everything's great, Jewel." Her voice was breathy and light, a contrast Julia's heart wanted to burst at. "Is Mags there?"_

_"Yeah," Julia replied, looking over at her husband with a crawling grin as he ambled his way over and slid down beside her. Her heart was trumpeting in her chest, a dizzying pattern from the only conclusion she could draw._

_"You sure?"_

_"Absolutely," Magnus replied._

_"Good. So, uh, so, Bar and I are engaged?"_

_Julia couldn't help but hoot triumphantly, the sound having escaped her before she could do anything about it._

_"Congratulations!" Magnus cried, his hands already moving to wipe away tears. Julia could only laugh, her thumbs brushing at what he missed as she tried to find a name for all the emotion curling up inside of her._

_The noise of celebration having startled them, the dogs came rustling around the corner of the couch that Julia and Magnus were backed up to. Perley hopped up on the cushions, interjecting his head between theirs, while Jonesy wedged his way into Julia's lap, and Magdalena stuck her nose in Magnus's ear. Hortense trotted in a few seconds behind them and made himself promptly comfortable on all of Julia's papers._

_"Lup," Julia finally startled out of herself, her hand clutched to her chest._

_"Julia."_

_And it was all either of them needed to say._

-

Julia had to maneuver her way through her own doorway. Baby Burnsides had decided to firmly stay put for a few extra days, but despite the swollen feet and stomach, she wouldn't let that stop her from anything.

Or, just about anything. It had stopped her from wearing the dress she and Lup had spent half a day picking out together, after all, leaving her in her worn out overalls, as they were all that currently fit.

Still, it worked out, given that she directly matched the groom in denim wash, and one call to Taako meant that he paralleled his sister's own color scheme to pull the aesthetic together when he stood up at the altar beside Barry.

An altar that Julia'd help build, and was currently in her backyard waiting for its occupants.

"Lup, please tell me you're dressed," she groaned, draping herself across her bed to await Lup's response from the adjoining master bathroom.

"Yeah, I'm just trying not to put my eye out with this eyeliner, gimme a sec."

"Take all of them, I don't care. It's hot as something hot out there and I'm decidedly less miserable under this fan."

"Have I told you thank you today?"

"Yes, but another time wouldn't hurt."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, Lup."

There were a few silent moments before Lup came out of the bathroom, jangling a small make-up bag at her side. She tossed it in her duffel bag and crawled in bed beside Julia, making sure their skin didn't touch for fesr of transferring any more warmth to her overheated best friend. As soon as she settled in, she cracked her jaw open.

"We've still got a couple minutes," Julia said before she could even get the question out.

"Good."

Inhaling with a sense of tranquility, Julia said, "Lup, I'm really proud of you."

"For what?"

"You know what. For yourself, and letting the rest of us help you. I'm proud of you for finding your own happiness, and making what didn't turn up on its own."

"I _just_ did my eyeliner."

"I know," she said with a laugh.

"Thank you for helping me, even if it was ugly o'clock at night, or you had other things you were doing. Thank you for teaching me how to ask the hard hitting questions and get the real answers from myself. That it's okay to need and to get help, too. Just, thank you for everything, Julia Burnsides."

Julia blinked away fresh tears - too many had already been shed that morning of happiness and reminiscing and honoring those who couldn't be there - and reached for Lup's hand. They slotted them easily together, holding with everything they had.

"Are you excited?"

"Elated."

"Scared?"

"Terrified."

Julia gave a watery smile to the ceiling, giving one extra squeeze to Lup's hand before she tugged them both up from the bed. She brushed nonexistent wrinkles from Lup's dress, brushed very real tears gently from her eyes, and once she realized the time, she lowered the simple encirclement made of homegrown lavender into her brown hair.

Music started outside, signalling they were out of time for now, but Julia grabbed up both of Lup's hands in hers, pulling them just over her heart.

Lup's eyebrows pinched, lips too, but before she could protest, Julia released her question.

"Can you breathe?"

There was no hesitation, not even a pause to register the question. There was just, "Finally."

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on tumblr @wlwshehulk !!


End file.
